Garbage has a distinct odor, and so do grease traps. As CEU students are discovering, those smells are easily overpowered by the stench of a port-a-potty left sitting in the summer's sweltering sun.

Construction crews are apparently unable to use one of the six bathrooms in the Jennifer Leavitt Student Center, two in the library, one in the police and motor pool building. And because they cannot use the plumbing, which the state so graciously installed when it built the facilities, construction workers have brought in a portable toilet near the dumpsters and grease receptacle behind the JLSC.

Editors and staff of The Eagle can think of but one reason for this: to avoid tracking dirt into the JLSC. Though working on a job that likely should have been done last year when the same company had the same holes dug in the same places, construction workers are surely caked in mud when they exit the trenches.

Most likely, facilities maintenance does not want to clean up the dirt and grime that would be ground into the tile and carpet in campus buildings.

After considering the options, The Eagle staff suggests that construction workers be directed to a specific bathroom. We suggest the two near the bookstore in the JLSC.

To avoid tracking dirt into the building, the college or construction company could purchase rugs that could be placed in the hall and bathrooms.

The workers shoes can't be much worse than students' shoes after they walk through the swamp next to the construction. The students could benefit from this option as well. They could wipe the mud and bits of grass from their shoes on the rugs as they enter the building.

We also considered the possibility that the construction company might have a contract with the company that provides the port-a-potty. Such a contract may require that each construction site have a portable toilet. If that is the case, we believe that the construction company should urge its workers to use on-site facilities.

Plaques vs. Papers

The SAC was first opened for use in 1937. The Reeves Building opened in 2003, more than 65 years later.

It is for that reason that the Reeves Building is equipped with such modern technologies such as ceiling-mounted projectors that provide instructors with the ability to use multimedia and video presentations as part of their daily lectures.

The SAC was converted to a classroom facility in 1999. After six years, the building has been equipped with placards at the doors of each room with room numbers on them.

At the same time that the Reeves Building was constructed, the CBB was retrofitted to handle more instructors' offices. Almost immediately, instructors' offices were labeled with signs that directed students into the appropriate location for each instructor.

However, the Reeves Building, after two years of use is still labeled with paper signs. Doors have signs, but unlike the CBB or the now demolished Reeves Building, the current Reeves Building has a directory made on paper signs.

As students enter the building, paper signs direct them to their classrooms. However, no signs direct them to the administrative suite, the offices of President Ryan Thomas or Vice President Mike King. No signs point the way to the offices of other vice presidents, deans, information technologies staff or personnel directors.

When the SAC and CBB are more effectively labeled than the Reeves Building. The Reeves Building is the college's flagship building and should show this institution's best face to the general public. Paper signs taped to the pillars do not reflect the college's best.

A simple directory should be installed that would list the location of each person's office and more professional-looking signs should direct students to each of the numbered classrooms and offices in the Reeves Building.